Container

ABSTRACT

A container having four side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from a base, the side walls having upper edges defining a peripheral rim and each side wall having longitudinal and lateral strengthening ribs formed therein, the base having a pair of channels formed in the exterior thereof to define a pair of support legs, and a lid having a peripheral lip adapted to engage the peripheral rim and having a depressed exterior surface defined by a peripheral ledge adjacent the peripheral lip and Lshaped recesses at the corner of the lid, the peripheral ledge being dimensioned to capture the support legs of a similar container when the containers are stacked one upon the other.

Tlnited States atent [1 1 (Ionstantine [111 3,759,416 Sept. 18, 1973[73] Assignee: International Bakerage, Inc.,

Atlanta, Ga.

[22] Filed: Aug. 25, 1970 211 Appl. No.: 66,769

4/1961 Pakistan 220/97 F 8/1956 Great Britain 220/72 PrimaryExaminer-George E. Lowrance Attorney-Morton Amster, Jesse Rothstein,Alfred B. Engelberg and Philip HuGottfried 57 ABSTRACT A containerhaving four side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from a base, theside walls having upper edges defining a peripheral rim and each sidewall having longitudinal and lateral strengthening ribs formed therein,the base having a pair of channels formed in the exterior thereof todefine a pair of support legs, and a lid having a peripheral lip adaptedto engage the peripheral rim and having a depressed exterior surfacedefined by a peripheral ledge adjacentthe peripheral lip and L-shapedrecesses at the comer of the lid, the peripheral ledge being dimensionedto capture the support legs of a similar container when the containersare stacked one upon the other.

3 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The presentinvention pertains to containers and more particularly to transportablecontainers which are adapted to be stacked one upon the other forshipping and nested within each other for storage.

In food processing and preparation plants, a problem has existed withrespect to the disposal of waste food by-products. In the past, in-plantrepositories were utilized to receive such waste; however, suchrepositories generally take up a great amount of space and are notmovable, thereby requiring handling of the contents of the repositoryduring transfer thereof to any suitable means for removing the wastefrom the plant. Such handling of the waste is extremely undesirable froma health and sanitation standpoint as well as from an economicstandpoint, due to the added labor and equipment requirements.

This problem in food plants can not be solved by merely utilizingsmaller containers in that any such container or repository must beacceptable from a health and sanitation standpoint for use in a foodplant. Furthermore, the containers must be logistically compatible withavailable modes of transport; that is, the containers must be capable ofbeing economically transported from the plant to their destination andmust be susceptible to automated handling for emptying of the contentsand for cleaning thereof for reuse. The shipping and sanitaryrequirements for such containers have presented obstacles to theconstruction of a suitable container for use in a food plant in that, inthe past, a container complying with the shipping requirements failed tocomply with health standards and vice versa.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the presentinvention to construct a container for use in food plants that meets allhealth requirements while facilitating transportation thereof.

The present invention is generally characterized in a container having abase with four side walls extending longitudinally upwardly andoutwardly from the base to upper edges defining a peripheral rim, theside walls extending laterally to engage the sides of adjacent sidewalls, each of the side walls having longitudinal and lat eral ribsintegrally formed therein and a lid having a peripheral lip engaging theperipheralrim defined by the upper edges of the side walls.

Another object of the present invention is to form a container with sidewalls having longitudinal and lateral strengthening ribs integrally froma nonporous resinous plastic.

A further object of the present invention is to construct a lid for acontainer such that another container may be stacked upon the lid withthe lid supporting the container without deformation thereof ordeformation of the side walls of the bottom container.

Some of the advantages of the present invention over the prior art arethat the container may be formed economically and quickly; the containeris strengthened by longitudinal and lateral ribs thereby permitting theuse of a resinous plastic meeting health standards without sacrificingstructural requirements; the containers may be nested within one anotherfor in-plant storage; and.

the containers may be stacked upon each other to facilitatetransportation thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment asillustrated in the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspectiveview of a container constructed in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a plurality of the containers of FIG. 1in their nested position.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of two of the containers of FIG. 1 stackedupon each other.

FIG. 4 is a broken front elevation of the container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lid of the container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a section taken along line 99 of FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is a sectiontaken along; line 10-l0 of FIG. 8'

DESCRIPTION or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A container according to thepresent invention is generally indicated at 12 in FIG. 1 and includes acontainer body 14 and a lid 15. As best illustrated in FIG. 7, containerbody 14 has a base 16 with channels 18 and 20 formed therein in parallelorientation to define a pair of outer legs 22 and 24 and afcentral leg26.

A pairof oppositely disposed side walls 28 and 30 extend upwardly andoutwardly from base 16 as do a pair of oppositely disposed walls 32 and34. The bottoms of side walls 28, 30, 32 and 34 interconnect with base16 in a smooth curve. The sides of the side walls are smoothlyinterconnected at rounded corners, and the upper edges of the side wallsform a peripheral rim 36. Side walls 28 and 30 each have a pair oflongitudinal ribs 38 formed as a depression therein and extending frombase 16 to-a terminating position close to peripheral rim 36; and,similarly, side walls 32 and 34 each have a pair of longitudinal ribs 40formed as a depression therein and extending from base 16 to aterminating position close to peripheral rim 36. Each side wall alsoincludes a plurality of equally spaced lateral ribs 42, which ribs havegradually increasing perimeters going from base 16 to peripheral rim 36.

As best illustrated in FIG. 4, 5 and 6, longitudinal ribs 38 and 40intersect lateral ribs 42 and the combination thereof provides strengthfor the container; that is, lateral ribs 42 contain the side wallsagainst deformation caused by the weight of the material in thecontainer and the longitudinal ribs provide column rigidity to preventcollapse of the container when other containers are stacked thereon, asillustrated in FIG. 3. The longitudinal ribs 40 formed in side walls 32and 34 are aligned with channels 18 and 20, as illustrated in FIG. 4,such that the longitudinal ribs smoothly curve into the channels inthebase 16. Longitudinal ribs 38 and 40 are each wider adjacent base 16than at their terminating positions, and the only difference betweenribs 38 and 40 is that ribs 38 terminate at support legs 22 3 and 24whereas ribs 40 terminate at channels 18 and 20.

It will be appreciated from FIG. 6 that the internal surfaces ofcontainer body 14 are smooth and all corners are rounded such that wasteproducts will readily discharge when dumped to prevent the retention ofbacteria-breeding food particles.

Lid 15 is illustrated in FIG. 8 and includes a peripheral lip 44 whichextends therearound and is dimensioned to sealingly engage peripheralrim 36 of container body 14. Lip 44 has an inverted, generally U- shapedconfiguration in cross section, as illustrated in FIG. 9, with the innerportion thereof terminating in a peripheral ledge 46, which extendsaround the lid and defines a depressed area 48 for receiving a stackedcontainer as will be described hereinafter. An L-shaped recess 50 isdisposed at each corner of lid 15, and each recess 50 is right-angledwith a pair of transversely extending legs of equal length meeting atone end and having a second end terminating at the peripheral ledge 46as illustrated in FIG. 10. The recesses 50 serve to distribute loadsuniformly around the perimeter of the lid in order to avoid stressconcentration at the comers of the lid.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the tapered orientation of the side walls ofthe container permits their nesting one inside the other such that agreat many containers may be stored in a small area. It should be notedthat the terminating portions of longitudinal ribs 38 and 40 extend intothe top lateral rib 42 adjacent peripheral rim 36 so as to be exposedwhen the containers are nested to permit a person to grasp the uppermostcontainer by using the terminating portions of the longitudinal ribs ashandles and separate the containers.

The stacking of containers in accordance with the present invention isillustrated in FIG. 3, and it will be appreciated that the dimensions ofdepressed area 48 as defined by peripheral ledge 46 correspond to thedimensions of support legs 22, 24 and 26 in base 16 of container body 14such that when one container is stacked upon another container, theuppermost container is prevented from slipping or moving on the lid.That is, peripheral ledge 46 serves to capture the support legs of thestacked container to stabilize stacked containers during transportation.

Bottom channels 18 and 20 are spaced to receive means for lifting thecontainers, such as the forks of a fork truck; and, since the weight ofthe contents may be as heavy as 1000 pounds, such as when the containerholds wet bread dough, this is highly advantageous.

The container is integrally manufactured by a process such as moldingofa nonporous resinous plastic of high-impact strength, such aspolyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, etc. Such a nonporousresinous plastic conforms with health requirements, and the uniquestructural features of the molded container body and lid permit thecontainer to be transported without requiring handling of the contents.

The generally square cross-sectional configuration of the container 12facilitates handling of the container body 14 and lid 15 for dumping ofthe contents and sanitizing the containers by compatible, automatedmachinery. That is, the containers do not have to be properly faced fordumping orsanitizing due to the similar dimensions of each side wall.

Since the side walls extend outwardly from base 16 to permit thecontainers to be nested to storage, it will be appreciated that when thecontainers 12 are stacked upon each other, the support legs 22, 24 and26 of the upper container will sit on lid 15 inside peripheral rim 36 ofthe lower container; and, accordingly, the upper container is notdirectly supported by the side walls of the lower container. Lid 15 has,therefore, been structured to support containers stacked thereon andresist the tendency of the lid to be pushed into the container. Theinverted, generally U-shaped peripheral lip 44 of the lid engages theinterior and exterior surfaces of the side walls to tightly grip thesame to prevent the lid from collapsing and also to provide a sealbetween the lid 15 and the container body 14, which seal is enhanced bytapering the outer wall of lip 44 towards the center of lid 15. Aspreviously mentioned, depressed area 48 receives the support legs of theupper container and peripheral ledge 46 serves to capture the supportlegs and prevent sliding of the upper container. Recesses 50 relievestress concentrations at the corners of the lid.

From the above, it can be seen that the container of the presentinvention provides a sanitary, efficient'inplant repository for wasteand a shipping container which is stackable for long distancetransportation. The rectangular configuration of the container permitsefficient utilization of space for transportation and storage ascompared to cylindrical containers.

Inasmuch as the present invention is subject to many variations,modifications and changes in detail, it is intended that all matterdescribed in the foregoing specification or shown inthe accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

- I claim:

1. A container, formed of a non-porous resinous plastic, comprising abase, four side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from said basebeing interconnected with each other and with said base at generallyrounded interior comers and having upper edges defining a rim having aperiphery greater than the periphery of said base, said container beinggenerally square in horizontal cross-section and having a plurality ofhorizontal ribs formed within said side walls, said horizontal ribsbeing substantially equally spaced from saidbase to said upper edges andhaving perimeters which increase with increasing height above said base,first and second outwardly and upwardly extending longitudinal v ribsbeing formed as depressions within the outside of each of said sidewalls, said longitudinal ribs being wider near the base of saidcontainer than near the terminating portion adjacent said rim and beingspaced from said rim, parallel channel means above said baseinterconnecting the lower end of said longitudinal ribs on opposed sidewalls thereby forming spaced legs in said base, and lid means having aninverted generally U-shaped peripheral ledge defining an outer wallengaging the exterior of said side walls and defining an upper wallengaging said rim, a recess adjacent said peripheral ledge and depressedwith respect thereto being constructed and arranged to capture andsupport spaced legs of a like-configured container placed on said lidwith said peripheral ledge substantially preventing horizontal movementof said supported container with respect thereto.

2. The container according to claim 1 wherein said longitudinal ribs aregenerally trapezoidal in vertical cross-section and the shorter parallelsides thereof terminate within the top horizontal rib a distance fromthe edge of said container whereby said shorter parallel sides of saidlongitudinal ribs are exposed when one of said containers is nestedwithin another of said containers.

3. A stackable, nestable container formed of a nonporous, resinousplastic comprising a base, four side walls extending upwardly andoutwardly from said base being interconnected with each other and withsaid base at generally rounded interior corners and having upper edgesdefining a rim having a periphery greater than the periphery of saidbase, said container being generally square in horizontal cross-sectionand having a plurality of horizontal ribs formed within said side wallsand substantially equally spaced from said base to said rim, saidhorizontal ribs having perimeters which increase with increasing heightabove said base, first and second outwardly and upwardly extendinglongitudal ribs being generally trapezoidal in vertical cross sectionarranged with their shorter parallel sides uppermost and spaced fromsaid rim, parallel channel means above said base interconnecting thelower ends of said longitudal ribs on opposed side walls thereby formingspaced legs in said base, and lid means having an inverted generallyU-shaped peripheral ledge defining an outer wall engaging the exteriorof said side walls and defining an upper wall engaging said rim, arecess adjacent said peripheral ledge and depressed with respect theretofor capturing and supporting spaced legs of a like-configured containerstacked on said lid with said peripheral ledge substantially preventinghorizontal movement of said stacked container with respect thereto, theinterior of said horizontal ribs being constructed and arranged tosupport the exterior of corresponding horizontal ribs of a nestedlike-configured container, and said longitudal ribs being constructedand arranged to expose said shorter parallel sides when said containersare nested.

1. A container, formed of a non-porous resinous plastic, comprising abase, four side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from said basebeing interconnected with each other and with said base at generallyrounded interior corners and having upper edges defining a rim having aperiphery greater than the periphery of said base, said container beinggenerally square in horizontal cross-section and having a plurality ofhorizontal ribs formed within said side walls, said horizontal ribsbeing substantially equally spaced from said base to said upper edgesand having perimeters which increase with increasing height above saidbase, first and second outwardly and upwardly extending longitudinalribs being formed as depressions within the outside of each of said sidewalls, said longitudinal ribs being wider near the base of saidcontainer than near the terminating portion adjacent said rim and beingspaced from said rim, parallel channel means above said baseinterconnecting the lower end of said longitudinal ribs on opposed sidewalls thereby forming spaced legs in said base, and lid means having aninverted generally U-shaped peripheral ledge defining an outer wallengaging the exterior of said side walls and defining an upper wallengaging said rim, a recess adjacent said peripheral ledge and depressedwith respect thereto being constructed and arranged to capture andsupport spaced legs of a like-configured container placed on said lidwith said peripheral ledge substantially preventing horizontal movementof said supported container with respect thereto.
 2. The containeraccording to claim 1 wherein said longitudinal ribs are generallytrapezoidal in vertical cross-section and the shorter parallel sidesthereof terminate within the top horizontal rib a distance from the edgeof said container whereby said shorter parallel sides of saidlongitudinal ribs are exposed when one of said containers is nestedwithin another of said containers.
 3. A stackable, nestable containerformed of a non-porous, resinous plastic comprising a base, four sidewalls extending upwardly and outwardly from said base beinginterconnected with each other and with said base at generally roundedinterior corners and having upper edges defining a rim having aperiphery greater than the periphery of said base, said container beinggenerally square in horizontal cross-section and having a plurality ofhorizontal ribs formed within said side walls and substantially equallyspaced from said base to said rim, said horizontal ribs havingperimeters which increase with increasing height above said base, firstand second outwardly and upwardly extending longitudal ribs beinggenerally trapezoidal in vertical cross-section arranged with theirshorter parallel sides uppermost and spaced from said rim, parallelchannel means above said base interconnecting the lower ends of saidlongitudal ribs on opposed side walls thereby forming spaced legs insaid base, and lid means having an inverted generally U-shapedperipheral ledge defining an outer wall engaging the exterior of saidside walls and defining an upper wall enGaging said rim, a recessadjacent said peripheral ledge and depressed with respect thereto forcapturing and supporting spaced legs of a like-configured containerstacked on said lid with said peripheral ledge substantially preventinghorizontal movement of said stacked container with respect thereto, theinterior of said horizontal ribs being constructed and arranged tosupport the exterior of corresponding horizontal ribs of a nestedlike-configured container, and said longitudal ribs being constructedand arranged to expose said shorter parallel sides when said containersare nested.